Adjacent Words

Paramour definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PAR'AMOUR, n. [L. per, and amour.]
1. A lover; a wooer.
2. A mistress.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a woman's lover [syn: fancy man, paramour]
2: a woman who cohabits with an important man [syn: concubine, courtesan, doxy, paramour]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from par amour for the sake of love, willingly, from Anglo-French par amur Date: 14th century an illicit lover

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. archaic or derog. an illicit lover of a married person. Etymology: ME f. OF par amour by love

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Paramour Par"a*mour, n. [F. par amour, lit., by or with love. See 2d Par, and Amour.] 1. A lover, of either sex; a wooer or a mistress (formerly in a good sense, now only in a bad one); one who takes the place, without possessing the rights, of a husband or wife; -- used of a man or a woman. The seducer appeared with dauntless front, accompanied by his paramour --Macaulay. 2. Love; gallantry. [Obs.] ``For paramour and jollity.'' --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Paramour Par"a*mour`, Paramours Par"a*mours`, adv. By or with love, esp. the love of the sexes; -- sometimes written as two words. [Obs.] For par amour, I loved her first ere thou. --Chaucer.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(paramours) Someone's paramour is their lover. (OLD-FASHIONED) N-COUNT: oft poss N

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

par'-a-moor (pilleghesh, "a concubine," masculine or feminine): A term applied in Eze 23:20 to the male lover, but elsewhere translated "concubine."

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Lover (in a bad sense), leman. 2. Concubine, mistress.

Moby Thesaurus

Casanova, admirer, adorer, amorist, concubine, doxy, follower, infatuate, kept mistress, kept woman, lover, mistress, playmate, pursuer, suitor, unofficial wife, woman, wooer